A rosewood rattan chair with gold-threaded cushions, paired with a cup of fine Longjing tea—how delightful!
Li Jiang: "Boss Yao has excellent taste. He truly deserves to be the top wealthy merchant in the capital of Tianqi."
Yao Bing smiled politely: "Young master, you flatter me. My family business has continued for many years thanks to the efforts of my ancestors. I dare not take credit for it."
After a few polite words, Yao Bing got down to business, saying, "I understand what you just said, young master. I will do my best to help you. Now, what do you want to know?"
Li Jiang: "Do you remember who the workers were who carried the roses on the day of the flower-viewing ceremony and wine offering?"
Yao Bing thought for a moment: "Most of them are servants from my household. They are usually very kind and honest, so they shouldn't do something like poisoning."
Li Jiang: "That's not necessarily true. People's hearts are not what they used to be, and no one can guarantee that they won't be bribed."
Not hearing a reply, Li Jiang looked at Yao Bing and found him frowning, seemingly thinking about something else.
He asked, "What's wrong?"
Yao Bing: "There's something that seems a bit strange to me now. If you hadn't come to my door today, I probably would have forgotten about it long ago."
Li Jiang: "What is it?"
Yao Bing: "The day before the festival, Mr. He from Zuixianju came to me and said that he wanted to work with me to run the operation of the Tumi flower this year. I found it strange at the time, as he had never participated in previous years. This year was unusual, but after all, he was the largest shareholder of the flower shop, so I couldn't refuse and agreed."
Li Jiang was quite surprised: "He Si, the owner of Zuixianju? I had met He Si once before. He was not highly skilled, dressed as a scholar, and looked weak. He was already a leader in running the capital's number one restaurant. I didn't expect him to be a shareholder of Linglong Flower Shop."
Seemingly noticing his confusion, Yao Bing explained, "Don't underestimate this young Boss He. His business acumen is not to be underestimated. He has developed Zuixianju to such a position at such a young age. He is truly a young talent."
He took a sip of tea and continued, "Of course, his background also plays a part."
Li Jiang asked, "What's their background?"
Yao Bing kept everyone in suspense: "Don't you think he looks a lot like someone?"
Li Jiang pondered, realizing that she hadn't thought much of it before, but now, upon closer reflection, He Si's appearance gradually overlapped with that of another person in her mind—
Consort Cheng!
"Are they siblings?"
Yao Bing nodded, confirming his idea.
After leaving Linglong Flower Shop, Li Jiang remained silent. Mu Dong couldn't help but ask, "Are you wondering if Consort Cheng is behind He Si, and Consort Cheng is behind Mo Zhanli? How could a dignified ruler possibly harm his own people?"
Li Jiang countered, "Why do you believe that Mo Zhanli is behind Consort Cheng?"
Mu Dong said in a serious tone, "Because they are husband and wife."
Shen Xun, who hadn't said much along the way, said, "I don't think so. Although Mo Zhanli isn't exactly a gentleman, he is, after all, the ruler of a country. It's unreasonable for him to let a woman take the blame for him."
Li Jiang: "I think so too."
Mu Dongfa asked, "Then why would Consort Cheng do that? She's an imperial concubine, and the people here all praise her for being kind and charitable. So, according to you, the gentle and refined Consort Cheng we saw that day was just an act?"
Shen Xun's expression turned serious: "I'm a little worried about Qinghe."
He looked up at Li Jiang, who understood what he meant. The next moment, she closed her eyes and tried to contact Qing He in her spiritual sea. In the past, she would hear his voice quickly, but this time there was nothing.
He suddenly opened his eyes and used his divine sense to sense Qinghe's location, but ultimately found nothing.
"Oh no!"
*
In the secret prison.
The environment was pitch black, and two people lay on the cold, damp floor. Water droplets fell from time to time, hitting the two people and making a crisp sound.
Qing's eyelashes fluttered slightly, showing signs of waking up. After a while, he slowly opened his eyes. Surrounded by darkness, he couldn't see anything, making her wonder if she had gone blind. She quickly summoned the Great Light Spell, and the light instantly illuminated the surroundings. She rubbed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief, thankfully she wasn't blind.
Mo Junqian was still fast asleep beside him, curled up, seemingly having a bad dream and not sleeping soundly.
Qing hesitated whether to wake him up. She stood up, supporting herself on the ground, only to find that her hands were covered in water, which was slippery and disgusting.
Let's wake him up, otherwise he might catch a cold.
She called his name several times, but he wouldn't wake up. Qinghe sighed and reached out to pat him awake, but as soon as her hand touched him, Mo Junqian cried out "Ah!" and suddenly grabbed her hand, sitting up abruptly, which startled Qinghe.
"You, you're awake? Are you alright?"
Mo Junqian was still immersed in the nightmare he had just had. He glanced at Qinghe in a daze and it took him a long time to come to his senses.
He said softly, "I'm fine, senior sister, don't worry."
Qinghe: "It was just a dream. It's good that nothing happened."
He nodded vaguely, looking completely dazed.
Both of them were in a sorry state, their clothes and hair were soaked and limp. Qinghe looked at Mo Junqian's profile and strangely felt that he looked much softer and cuter than usual.
Realizing what she was thinking, she shook her head violently, forcibly clearing the thought from her mind.
His tone suddenly turned cold: "Now you can let go of my hand, right?"
Mo Junqian only then realized that he had been holding Qinghe's hand tightly; it was soft and warm.
He abruptly released his grip, and two blushes appeared on his face. He quickly covered his face with his hands and stood up in a panic.
Faced with the urgent situation, Qinghe quickly put the awkwardness behind him and turned around to carefully explore the secret prison.
She held the Great Light Mantra in her palm, and spiritual energy slowly flowed around it, gradually forming a ball of light as big as her head. With a flick of her wrist, the ball of light floated into the air until it stopped at the bottom.
The entire secret prison was now in full view.
The prison was cylindrical, surrounded by piles of smooth, polished stones. Qinghe channeled all his spiritual energy and unleashed a palm strike, but the palm force, containing the power of a Nascent Soul cultivator, had absolutely no effect on the prison.
Qinghe said to Mo Junqian, "Let's work together."
Mo Junqian stepped forward, and the two of them worked together, but the result was still the same.
The prison was airtight; even with their combined strength, the two of them couldn't budge it an inch. It was so sturdy that Mo Zhanli must be intent on killing them.
Qinghe: "It seems we need to find another way out."
There was no movement. Qinghe turned to look at Mo Junqian, whose expression was gloomy as he stared straight at her.
Qinghe: "What's wrong? You look terrible. Are you injured?"
Mo Junqian slowly lowered his eyes, the portrait tucked into his waistband.
At this moment, Qinghe didn't know how to react. Of course, she knew she should say something comforting to coax him, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.
When it comes to emotions, whether it's family or romantic love, she always seems to lack something. To put it simply, she has low emotional intelligence. She's afraid to speak, worried that what she says might hurt others even more.
After much thought, I decided that if I couldn't say it, I should do it. At times like this, a warm hug is more effective than any words.
Thinking of this, she stepped forward, opened her arms and hugged Mo Junqian, patted his back reassuringly, and then let go.
Mo Junqian stood there stunned for a while before she came to her senses and whispered, "Thank you, Senior Sister."
Silence speaks louder than words; without any words of comfort, the two understood each other perfectly.
Mo Junqian felt a warmth in his heart. Even though he was in a cold and dark prison, he felt as if he were in a furnace. As long as Qinghe was there, the fire in his heart would not go out.
Qinghe remained calm, pondering how to get out. In this confined environment, every sound was amplified. With a slight twitch of her ears, she seemed to hear another sound from a distant depth.
It was the sound of an animal about to roar, its eyes fixed on its prey, waiting for the right moment to strike, as if its neck was about to be bitten off.
Just hearing that sound made my hair stand on end, and my heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly by a giant hand, making it hard to breathe and giving me a suffocating feeling.
Qing tried to pinpoint the direction of the sound, but it was too ethereal, sometimes near, sometimes far, making it impossible to distinguish.
The sound of water continued, and whether it was her imagination or not, the dripping speed of the water seemed to be increasing, and the sound was getting louder and louder.
This means the water flow increased and all of it accumulated on the floor.
Qinghe thought to himself: Is Mo Zhanli trying to drown us?
As she thought about it, she used her feet to shove the water off the ground to prevent it from pooling together, when she suddenly realized something was wrong.
He asked Mo Junqian, "Don't you feel that the stones under your feet have become a little soft?"
Mo Junqian stepped on it: "It seems so."
Qinghe murmured, "No, this water..."
She squatted down, wiped her hands with water without worrying about getting them dirty, and brought them to her nose to smell them: "This smell is so familiar, it's like I've smelled it somewhere before."
She suddenly opened her eyes wide: "Oh no! This isn't water, it's ambergris! It's extremely corrosive; it can melt a boulder the height of a person in the time it takes to burn an incense stick!"
As soon as they finished speaking, the stone slab beneath their feet suddenly began to collapse and shattered in the blink of an eye. The two of them lost their footing and plummeted downwards!
"ah!"
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